I Was Just Cold
by belly.buttons
Summary: "Finally come around to loving me, eh?" he smirked. "Nonsense," she replied, retracting herself from his warmth. "I was just cold." One-shot, mild language.


_I Was Just Cold_

Bella shivered, yanking the blanket off Rodolphus and sending a glare at his sleeping back. He grumbled and she rolled her eyes. He rolled over so that he was nearly at the edge, trapping some of the blanket under his back. She sat up angrily.

"_Lumos!_" she screeched, flailing her wand around wildly and startling Rodolphus. He jerked awake, hand poised over the Dark Mark on his left arm. "Oh, stop it, you damned fool. Why on Earth would you call Master for something like this anyway?" she scolded, slapping his arm down. "Now get off the blankets and give me some, you ass."

He gave her a dark look but didn't retaliate. He never did; it was part of the reason she was bored of his company. She liked things to be wild and rough and exciting. Rodolphus was just _drab_. He relinquished his possession of the covers to his wife and rolled back over. "Shut off that light, please," he mumbled politely. She draped a hand over her face and whispered, "Nox." He just isn't good enough, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

She was awoken nearly two hours later with the same issue. This time, though, she was too tired to do anything about it. She simply scooted closer to his warm body, smiling at the heat it gave off. She even went so far as to wrap her arms around him, sinking even further into this fiery pillow of comfort. She felt him shift slightly, twisting to look at her over his shoulder. She sensed him smile slightly.

"Finally came around to loving me, eh?" he joked, smirking. He had loved her from the start and hadn't even bothered to hide it, but she didn't feel it back, almost couldn't. People speculated that perhaps she fancied Lord Voldemort, but that was absurd. Things never went well when one developed a thing for their masters, and Bellatrix was too devoted to his cause to be anything but a loyal servant.

So why—why couldn't she just love this man that did so much for her? It would ruin her reputation; that was why. She couldn't have people thinking that she had gone soft and turned into some hormonal teenage girl, could she? Absolutely not. Also, it would give people an advantage over her. What if she grew to love him and found him dead one day? It was in no way impossible under the age's circumstances, and it just wouldn't do.

Even so, she thought she felt something stir deep within her stomach at his question. It was deep, deep in her stomach, but it was still there. She grimaced and tried to squash the horridly pleasant feeling. "Nonsense," she scoffed, withdrawing her arms and reluctantly moving away from his heat. "I was just cold."

**IIII**

They awoke early the next day to a searing pain in their left arms, still at complete opposite sides of the bed. The Dark Lord had called an emergency meeting, and all forces were due at Malfoy Manor immediately.

Bella and Rodolphus were quiet as they both quickly dressed. Most mornings were like this: they wouldn't speak as they dressed, and then they'd troop off to Headquarters to meet with the Dark Lord. But even with the rush they were in this morning, he stopped for a cup of tea in the kitchen. She huffed, blowing a runaway curl out of her face, and placed her slender hands on her hips.

"I swear to Salazar, Rodolphus, if we're late—"

"Don't worry about it, Bells. It only takes a second to get there," he replied calmly, taking another sip.

He watched as her face turned an amusing shade of red. "Damn it, Rodolphus, don't call me Bells!" she shrieked, slamming her wand on the table. "We are _not_ some madly in love couple like Lucius and Cissy were, do you hear me? And _hurry up with that bloody tea!_"

They were both silent, staring at each other, calculating each other. And then Rodolphus took a slow, deliberate gulp of his drink. Bellatrix lost it. She snatched her wand from the table and flew at her husband, making him spill the hot tea down the front of her dress. She pressed the tip of her wand to his throat, and he smiled down at her amusedly.

"Going to kill me, are you, Bells?" he quipped, grinning wider.

"I believe I will, if you don't stop calling me that ruddy name," she hissed, glaring daggers at him.

He ran a hand through her unruly black hair, and she growled. He ignored her warning. His hand ran between her shoulder blades and down to the small of her back, and he jerked her closer to him. He ignored the sharp pain as her wand pressed farther into his neck and focused on how her breathing quickened ever so slightly. "Nervous, are we, Bells?" he teased, and he seized the opportunity as she opened her mouth to reply to plant his lips straight on hers.

In all the years since their parents had arranged for them to be together, they had kissed only twice. The first time was in seventh year during a game of truth or dare, where Bellatrix had very reluctantly given him a light peck on the lips. The second time he regretted very much—he still had the scars from where she had hexed him into high Heaven for touching her without permission. He could only imagine what she would do to him now.

But when he pulled away, she simply stood there. She looked down at the teacup, which he had dropped sometime during the kiss to cup her face, and coughed. "Are you ready to go now?" she croaked. He nodded, and they hooked arms and pressed their respective Dark Marks. She very pointedly released herself as soon as they were at their destination, and entered the manor a few feet in front of Rodolphus.

Years later, she admitted to Narcissa the blanket episode in bed and admitted that she felt just a little stirring in her stomach. Cissy went starry-eyed and starred shooting off some romantic junk, and Bellatrix nodded intently as if she were actually listening. Despite her sister pressing her to tell more, she never revealed what had happened the morning after. She still, however, felt his passionate lips on hers until her dying day.

**Hope you liked it! A little mushy, probably a tad OOC—just something I threw together at 1 A.M. Tell me what you think; I love reviews!**


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